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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/22456312">The Path</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/SpaceWall/pseuds/SpaceWall'>SpaceWall</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Avatar: The Last Airbender</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Day of Black Sun, Forgiveness, Gen, Uncle-Nephew Relationship</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-01-28</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-01-28</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-18 05:48:40</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>General Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>819</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/22456312</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/SpaceWall/pseuds/SpaceWall</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>Zuko doesn’t fall for Ozai’s trap on the Day of Black Sun, and makes it to the prison a little earlier. He still finds forgiveness when he gets there.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Iroh &amp; Zuko (Avatar)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>28</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>538</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Collections:</b></td><td>Good_or_Decent_Zuko_With_a_dash_of_Iroh_Azula_Gaang, I think of you as my own</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>The Path</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Zuko doesn’t turn around. His father – the Fire Lord – is saying something about his mother, but he knows it’s a trap. It has to be. It’s the sort of thing Azula would use against him. So he runs. The eclipse is almost over, but there’s still an amount of chaos he can use. There has to be. This can’t end with Uncle in prison. That’s not an acceptable outcome. </p><p>He takes the stairs two at a time and bursts out into an empty city, the sounds of a battlefield nearby and the smell of smoke in the air. He doesn’t look up at the place where the sun should be, but he can feel the absence of his firebending, like a missing limb. Even out on a warm day, he feels cold in his bones. If he sees any fire nation soldiers, from this point on, Zuko will have to fight them. He draws his swords again, but the weight of them is of little reassurance.</p><p>He’s not interrupted until he reaches the prison. There, in the doorway, he easily knocks out a firebender who seems shocked by his own weakness – were they not told to be wary on the eclipse? The guard is barely older than Zuko himself, and he doesn’t deserve to die. By the time he wakes, they’ll be long gone. Zuko leaves him lying there, sees a figure rounding the corner, sinks into position to launch an attack– </p><p>And drops to his knees before his Uncle. Iroh’s flame, returned just half a second before Zuko’s own does, dies in his hand. Neither of them speak. </p><p>Zuko wants to cry. Even this one, good thing he’s ever tried to do is irrelevant. Uncle doesn’t need him and never has. He meant to leave without Zuko. </p><p>“Prince Zuko,” he says; he is quiet and dangerous, the Dragon of the West. </p><p>Right. Zuko’s just come close to assassinating the Fire Lord. Uncle is breaking out of prison. They have to go. “I came to get you.”</p><p>“I have my own way,” he says, and of course he does, because Zuko can’t even commit treason right. Agni dammit. “Now please, move.”</p><p>He still thinks Zuko is trying to stop him. Of course he does. Why would Zuko do anything else? He’s never made a good decision before. “I’m not here to fight you. I’m here to break you out.” His heart is pounding like a drum, climbing steadily into his throat. “I’m sorry. I know you probably can’t forgive me. I wouldn’t forgive me. But I’m here now, and I want to help you, and to help the Avatar stop my father, and-”</p><p>He’s being pulled to his feet before he can finish the sentence. Uncle begins to pull him along but Zuko pushes all his regret away and says, “I have an airship and flight clearance. Let me lead.”</p><p>They run together, saying nothing. Fire bending’s back on so Zuko sheaths his swords. With the city mobilizing to obliterate the invasion force, it’s easy to raise their little balloon into the air. Zuko, with practiced ease, never takes his eyes off the bison. He’s learned by now that you never take an eye off Appa, because either the Avatar is with him, or is going to be. Also because he’ll lick you if you aren’t careful. </p><p>When they’re clear of the Caldera and the rest of the Fire Nation has turned back, Zuko slumps to the floor and, burying his head in his hands, finally allows himself to cry. </p><p>It’s something of a shock when Uncle pulls his hands away and, in the instant before they embrace, Zuko sees that he is crying too. </p><p>“I thought you would be angry with me,” he says, lamely. The day's events still weigh heavily. “Father – the Fire Lord would have been.”</p><p>“Zuko,” Uncle says, gentle and sure, “I was not angry with you. I was scared that you were lost.”</p><p>Maybe he is lost, but, “I know where I’m going, now.”</p><p>If possible, his uncle squeezes even tighter. “Good,” he says, and Zuko tries to remember if his father has ever held him this long in his entire life, if he has ever felt so comfortable being touched by another person. “I am glad you have found your way.”</p><p>There is much to say, about the Comet and the Avatar and what they will do against Zuko’s father. But for now, they have a ways to fly, and little to do other than forgive. Zuko tells him, words slow to come, of how he fled his father, how he chose not to fight. How he chose not to listen. </p><p>Uncle says, “we will find the truth of what happened to your mother, if that is what you wish.”</p><p>“The Avatar first,” he says, as he has for years, but it is different now. “Let’s take it a day at a time.”</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>God I fucking love Zuko it’s been 6 years and I rewatch S3 in a day and update yep still love Zuko someone protecc this child.</p></blockquote></div></div>
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